The Goan Network
MARGAO
Nerul Sports Club prevailed over Sao Jose de Areal Sports Club 6-5 via tie-breaker to storm into the quarter-finals of All Goa 45th Custodio Memorial inter-village football tournament organized by Raia Sporting Club at Panchayat Ground, Raia on Saturday. Nerul Sports Club led 2-0 at half time.
Nerul Sports Club held the upper hand in the openining session and pushed their opponents on the back foot for major phase of the proceedings with their forwards unleashing a flurry of attacks and their efforts bore fruit in the 31st minute when Paul Cardozo bulged the net, giving no chance to the rival goalkeeper.
Buoyed by the lead, Nerul Sports Club intensified their attacks and doubled the lead in the 35th minute when Aniket punted the ball to the far corner of the net.
At the other hand, Sao Jose de Areal Sports Club seemed to be a disjointed lot and failed to function as a cohesive unit and hardly made any efforts to reduce the margin.
Crossing over, Nerul Sports Club slackened their pace and allowed their opponents to manoeuvere inside their territory and reduced the deficit when Bersel Viegas received the ball from his own half and sped down the rival penalty box and punished the rival goalkeeper with a neat finish. Boosted by the reducer, Sao Jose de Areal Sports Club mounted tremendous pressure on the rival citadel and in the 55th minute, David Colaco unleashed a stiff shot that crashed into the net.
Nerul Sports Club went all out in search of the match winner but rival defenders stood tall in averting the danger with neat tackles.
In the penalty shoot out, Siddarth, Deepak, Mansih Govekar and Prashant Naik converted for Nerul Sports Club while Bersel Viegas, Aggio Antao and Cheston Gomes found the mark for Sao Jose de Areal Sports Club.
